OT: Kitchen Cabinet COnstruction Question

Pondering turning a kitchen cabinet decorative panel into an opening door, I can't figure out how it's attached.

Inside the cabinet nothing shows but the panel with the peg holes to adjust the shelf heights.

No screws, no nothing.

Perhaps they are stapled on?

If I take a pry bar to it, am I likely to ruin it ?:-( ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson
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Grab a little neodymium magnet and use it to scan the periphery of the panel. You will pick up the finishing nails that hold it on.

Yes. Suggest small taps with a plastic mallet to pop the panel flange away from the framework at the nail locations. You'll want to use a scrap of metal as a blunt chisel to place the moment properly.

If it does not begin to separate with a few light taps, it may be screwed in. Stop tapping! :)

--Winston

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Winston

Can you post a picture? Art

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Artemus

Aha! Good idea! I bought a package of those magnets to hold guide rulers on my wife's needlework board... you could lift a car with one of those ;-)

That's a snag, the cabinet is "lined" with a board for the shelf supports, so I can't see the back of the panel from inside the cabinet :-( ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson

Your panel may be installed as a frame & panel assy where the panel is inlet into grooves in the rails & stiles on all sides. If this is the case it's not coming out w/o destruction. Pics? OTOH if the inside lining board supports the shelf, how are you going to make that an opening door? Art

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Artemus

Your panel may be installed as a frame & panel assy where the panel is inlet into grooves in the rails & stiles on all sides. If this is the case it's not coming out w/o destruction. Pics? OTOH if the inside lining board supports the shelf, how are you going to make that an opening door? Art

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Artemus

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Here it is...

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What I have in mind, since the cabinet is so deep, is removing that end panel, add hinges, then add one of those fold out mechanisms that can support my wife's super heavy Kitchenaid stand mixer.

Then I won't have to carry it from the storage cabinet all the time :-(

(Note that the location is on an "island" cabinet in the kitchen.) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Cut out just a small section ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson

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Good. Worth a thousand words. It looks like the cabinets are the usual carcass and face frame construction with the end piece in the pic being frame & panel as I'd guessed. That piece will probably have been glued to the carcass and tacked in place with brad nails. I seriously doubt that dowels, biscuits, or screws would have been used. Pry it carefully with a small prybar or screwdriver, using a putty knife or two to protect the wood, and it should come off. Be careful not to twist the panel or the rail & stile joint could crack.

You'll still have the problem of cutting into the carcass side without destroying support for the counter top and coming up with a new support for the shelves.

Have you considered a roll around cart for the mixer? Art

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Artemus

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Are you married ?:-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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=A0 =A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

Those things usually depend on chipboard panels for their mechanical strength and structural integrity.

The neatly framed "real wood" panelling at the end is most likely just decorative, and merely glued onto the the chipboard panel.

Real wood expands at different rates along the grain and across grain as the humidity changes, and in old-fashioned cabinet making you'd have to make that central panel a bit loose in the frame to accommodate this. Chip-board doesn't have grain, which makes the designer's life a whole lot easier, but it is also weaker than real wood, so loading it with a fold-out support for a heavy kitchen mixer would probably call for some extra reinforcement, probably dowelled and glued. Screwed and glued is more traditional, but screwing into chip-board doesn't give you as strong a bond.

-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

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Bill Sloman

Ask in the rec.woodworking newsgroup - there are some kitchen cabinet builders there.

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Peter Bennett, VE7CEI  
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca  
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Peter Bennett

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Yes. Say no more. The cart idea is no go.

Another option would be to add your mixer elevator to the end of the island inside the existing door. Much easier and you don't risk compromising the structural integrity of the cabinetry. Adding a vertical dividing panel to support he shelves is a piece of cake. ;~) (Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.) Art

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Artemus

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

lmao

Cheers

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Martin Riddle

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Sorry to barge in from the side but the first part of the thread didn't show on my news server.

Kitchens like this are made with a major prerogative in mind: Speed of installation at a minimum in required skill levels. I have seen these panels equipped with clear plastic dowels, sticking out of the wood and with several lips all around. The counterpart into which it goes has four or six holes at matching locations. The panel is set in place, a fist is made .. wham ... BAM ... *BAM* ... done. Whether you can get it back out I don't know. You could gently try with a crowbar at the bottom. But protect anything that is visible. See if it tries to "ride" or not.

Even if it does ride there is no guarantee whether the particle board in this panel or the dowels will win the fight.

[...]
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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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Joerg

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I know. But SWMBO must also think it "looks pretty" ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson

That rules out used pallets and a hack saw unless you're really, really good with it. ;-)

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Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Look around on the inside of the cabinet (behind the dummy panel) for little plastic plugs that might be concealing screws. Once you have eliminated the screw option, then careful prying might do the trick.

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Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
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Paul Hovnanian P.E.

(...)

It's a feature!

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Provided that you don't see any screw heads holding on the end panel from the inside of the cabinet after you empty it, you can probably use a drift punch to tap the panel off from the inside via the shelf mounting holes.

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--Winston

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Winston

Or, put it on a lift and have the countertop hinged to fold out of the way when it ascends? Me, I'd switch to a smaller mixer, first.

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whit3rd

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